~I finished reading Veritatis Splendor!!! Never mind the fact that I was supposed to finish it about three months ago. It was still an excellent read, and I was glad to have the time to take it in! I hope to be able to put what I learn to good use and to share it with others!
~I have moved into my new house for the school year! I'm living with 2 other girls this semester, and another girl who is studying in Germany will be joining us next semester. The very kind and very humble Fr. Joshua celebrated a Mass for us in our house last Saturday to start our year. (At first, I thought, Wow, I'm having Mass in my house! Then I remembered that this was a regular, weekly occurrence last semester. And then I missed Rome dearly, but at the same time was even more grateful to be able to have the privilege again.) Then, we had a tea party, for which everyone was dressed fabulously! (When we went to the Wine and Spirits store to buy wine, I bought Italian import. Couldn't help myself. :-D) After that, had a wonderful conversation with my roommate Lady Jane while my other roommate Lady Aimee went to dinner. I think this is going to be a good semester. There have already been copious amounts of Disney music in our house. :)
~I am in my last week of my internship at FedEx Ground, and was thoroughly pleased with it this time around. I had much more responsibility than last semester, and I felt as if my work really did help the company. I had the chance to learn more about my strengths and hopefully improve upon some of my weaknesses in the process. I am getting great work experience through this job, and I am thankful for it! I will be back working here one more time, either this spring or this summer, depending on what works for the company. It would be better for my studies if I go in the summer because of my double major, but I need to see how things play out.
~School starts in 6 days. I'm so not ready for it. But I'm doing my best to offer up all my not-ready-ness and all my struggles to the Lord so that He may work through them for the good.
~Going on student leader retreat this weekend!! :) I'm sure the Lord has many good things planned for us this year!
~This last bullet is more of a prayer request. I am at a crossroads of sorts and need prayers that I will do the Lord's will. :)
Last thought: Bernardians, know that I pray for you by name quite often, and that I miss you all a ton. It's a bit of a struggle for me when I remember that I won't see you all on campus this year, but I will be praying for all of you before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. (The Oratory has Perpetual Adoration!)
NOTE: Because all of you know oh, how well I kept up with my posting in Rome, I figured I'd post this one which I found half-written in my archives. Even though it was unfinished, I didn't want to delete it, so here's what I was *going* to tell you on February 20. As I was reading through it, I realized that I copied it from an email that I wrote to my friend Charisse, and was just going to edit it a bit and post it here. Apparently, I never got that far. But anyway, without further ado, here it is, pretty much the way you were supposed to read it 6 months ago:
I know it's been awhile since I've updated, but I've been so busy that I haven't had as much time to blog as I thought I would! So here's a bit of what's been going on in Bernardi lately!
I guess the main highlight has been doing the station churches! :) We go to a different church every morning for the Lenten season, according to a centuries-old tradition. It's ridiculously early, mind you, but they're amazing churches, and I love the chance to get to participate in an ancient tradition. So far, we've seen Santa Sabina, Santa Giorgio (which was Cardinal Newman's parish when he was in Rome), Ss. Giovanni e Paolo (over the house of Sts. John and Paul), and today, Sant'Agostino (which has the bodies of St. Augustine and St. Monica). I think my favorites so far have been one of the last two...I couldn't take my eyes off the painting behind the altar at Ss. Giovanni e Paolo.
As of now, I've started all my classes! I think I covered a little of the other 2 classes, so I'll just fill you in on these ones. Church, Culture, and the Biomedical Revolution is very good--one of the teachers from St. Thomas is teaching it, and it's running basically like a regular class, so lots of reading, papers, etc. We're reading the Social Doctrine of the Church, so it's very good material!
Fundamental Moral Theology is just absolutely amazing--we have it with the Pope's theologian!! Great professor--he talks SO fast and packs in a TON of information though! I think I took 6 pages of notes the first day, and still missed stuff!!! The guy is so gentle, and so knowledgeable on his subject (obviously, cuz he's, y'know, the Papal Theologian. Which means he rocks lol). This is a European-style course, so entirely lecture, and very little class input. BUT, last Thursday, we started to read a passage, and he was pointing out a problem with the translation from Latin. He asked the class some general questions about how the Latin is laid out, and I answered a few times. Eventually, when he asked another question, he pointed at me and said, "You tell me! Your Latin is good!" I think I was complimented on my Latin skills by the Papal Theologian!! I don't even know what to make of that! haha...Especially since I'm surrounded by priests and seminarians and nuns and theology majors and stuff, so I'm extremely humbled to even be there, let alone have him call on me for something, considering I'm just a random kid from Pittsburgh compared to all those around me. As you probably could have guessed, I was freaking out for the last 10 minutes of class lol. Anyway, the last class is Poets and Mystics. It's with Fr. Paul Murray, an Irish Dominican. Also taking the class is a Nashville Dominican, Sr. Jane Dominic, who spoke at the University of Pittsburgh earlier this year. (Again, I'm extremely humbled to be in this company.) It sounds like it's going to be a good class, and the professor definitely has character. :) OH and I am taking Latin!!! Haven't had the class yet, but we're doing the Latin Vulgate Bible. :-D So I think that's the gist of it. Otherwise, I've met up with my friends Caitlin and Adam this week since they were in from France, a girl from my high school who is also studying in Rome, and today my cousin's in from Florence! :-D It seems like everyone's converging on Rome this week! I'm also having fun with my community, who are all very nice people. I'm praying for the grace to trust more in the Lord and to open up to His Love so that He can work through me and within me. He has provided so much, and I'm so thankful for His blessings!
Name: Kristin Home: Pittsburgh, PA, United States About Me: Seeking my true Fatherland as I travel this spiritual journey with Our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope, with the help of God, to follow in the example of the saints and strive for holiness. See my complete profile
